A Little Keyboard History

Here’s a little entry for all you keyboard enthusiasts and gamers out there. Look at the Overcast DSA double shot spherical keycaps our Associate Manager Ron got for his CM Storm Quickfire Stealth! Interested in a little keyboard history? Keep reading! Ron took a little time to share some information.

Keyboard History

The surface of spherical keycaps is concave where all four edges curve to form a spherical shape. Keycaps on keyboards today typically have a cylindrical shape nowadays. These only have two curved edges (top and bottom). Spherical keycaps were popular and the de facto design in the computer industry throughout the 70’s and early 80s until cylindrical keycaps replaced them. In the past few years however, spherical keycaps has been gaining popularity with keyboard enthusiasts due to the classy retro look and feel.

Did you know?

Designers created the QWERTY layout to slow down typing speed. This prevented typewriters from jamming up. The layout has been adapted to the modern computer keyboard and became the industry standard.

Mechanical keyboards were popular throughout the 80’s and the first half of the 90’s. Examples include the IBM Model M and Northgate Omnikey keyboards. A lot of mechanical keyboards made in the 80’s were so indestructible that they are still being used today. In the 90’s, major computer companies were replacing mechanical keyboards with cheaper rubber dome membrane keyboards due to low cost higher mass-production. These rubber domes became the OEM standard when you bought a major branded PC at the store. Mechanical keyboards started to rise again in the mid to late 2000’s thanks to touch typists, keyboard enthusiasts, and a new group called PC gamers.

These mechanical keyboards have a longer lifespan than membrane keyboards. Mechanical switches can last up to 20-70 million keystrokes per key vs. 5-10 million keystrokes per key on a common membrane keyboard. Mechanical switches can be replaced with a new switch when it gets worn down but it’s almost impossible to replace rubber domes on a common membrane keyboard.

Hope you learned something interesting! We use keyboards everyday, we hardly ever give them a though though!